Violets open season with win, loss

The NYU women's basketball team split their first two games of the season. They outlasted a pesky SUNY-Oswego team 71-65 in their first game on Sunday but dropped to non-conference rival Mount St. Mary College in a 58-52 decision at Coles Sports Center last night.

The game against Mount St. Mary ended the Violets' non-conference winning streak at 48 games.

"Obviously it's disappointing to lose the second game of the season on your home court," head coach Stefano Trompeo said. "It reveals how much harder we need to work."

The Violets' hopes of winning against Mount St. Mary were made significantly worse when senior Grace Carmen fouled out with 7:40 to play. She struggled to score all night but still managed six points and seven rebounds.

NYU had an early chance to build a sizable lead when they held Mount St. Mary scoreless for a 12:10 stretch spanning part of both halves. But Mount St. Mary's Natalie Garbie's hot second-half shooting was too much for the Violets to handle. She scored 21 points, 19 of those in the second half. Overall, the Blue Knights shot 44 percent in the second half and were 50 percent from three-point range.

"It was a lack of urgency and effort," Trompeo said. "When they're getting put-backs and second chances, obviously they are going to shoot a higher percentage. They wanted it more."

On Sunday against Oswego, Carmen led the Violets with 16 points, including six in the final five minutes to seal the victory. After the game, Carmen was also named UAA Athlete of the Week.

"The big thing I wanted to do was create some sort of a spark for the offense," Carmen said.

In the first half, it was the guards who kept NYU close while SUNY-Oswego shot 40 percent from three-point range. NYU junior Emily Foshag scored 11 of her 14 points in the opening half. She also grabbed six of her seven rebounds.

"Getting rebounds is important to our transition game," Foshag said. "It's a part of our game we have to work on."

After taking a six-point lead into the locker room, the Violets struggled to extend their advantage and even fell behind just a few minutes into the second half. Down by four, senior Jen Hum-Traverso hit a critical three-pointer to cut into the Lakers' lead coming out of an NYU time-out to give the Violets the momentum back.

"It was tremendous for us. Jen excited our offense," Trompeo said.

The Violets escaped the final minutes to take the victory, but knew there were areas to improve.

"We got a victory and that's one towards the end of our season," Trompeo said. "We have to contest a lot more shots and do a better job of keeping dribble penetration in front of us."

NYU will look to bounce back this weekend when they face Mount St. Vincent in the first round of the NYU Tip-Off Tournament. The game will be played at Coles Sports Center and will tip at 6 p.m.

Russell Steinberg is a staff writer.